WE have here three stages. First, the prophetic Spirit foretelling the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow; then the accomplishment of Christ's sufferings; and then comes the Holy Ghost down from heaven to report the things that are now ministered unto us, and this according to the hope, and the power of communion with the love that gives us this hope.
The Church's Calling—Its Practical Effects.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:1-61I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:1‑6).)
This portion of Scripture contains two subjects, the one mainly affecting the Christian himself, the other affecting the body of Christ, through him. In fact, the deep interests of the Church of God for one member, and all, are unfolded in this passage. Hence we can understand the emphatic manner with which the apostle presses them on the children of God. He beseeches them not as the apostle or the prophet, but as the prisoner of Jesus Christ; as one in whom practically was realized the fruitlessness of all earthly expectancy; a witness of what faithfulness to Christ in the world must suffer; and as one for whom the termination of earthly scenes would be a release and rest. Such is the character to give emphasis to the appeal he now makes to all saints. And, as such, he beseeches them “to walk worthy of their vocation wherewith they are called." He had, in the preceding chapter of this epistle, opened out the nature and blessing of their vocation, and therefore, in this passage, he addresses the Church as understanding it. It is evident if one is ignorant of the nature and principles of his calling, he cannot walk worthy of it; a servant may be willing and obedient, yet he cannot fulfill the duties of his service unless he knows them; and, consequently, in every ease in Scripture, we learn that our gracious God always establishes his servant in the practical blessing of his service ere he enters on it. Doubtless service deepens it, but the truth I am called to exhibit is my own strength and guide in the work, so that "he that watereth is watered also himself."
The Old Testament times were before the Holy Ghost was given as the witness of Christ's heavenly glory, the abiding unction of each believer, and the power of the unity of the Church on earth. (2 Cor. 3; John 7:38; 14:2638He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)
26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26). 1 John 2:2727But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27). Gal. 4:66And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6); 1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13). Ephes. 2:2222In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22).) Then the nature and principles of the believer's calling, from which a corresponding service should flow, were explained in vision and inscribed on the soul of the servant, as by the finger of God, the deep truths he was to be a witness of; for God never left Himself without witness.
Moses learned in the "burning bush" (Exod. 3.) the power and unchanging faithfulness of Jehovah to manifest Himself amidst the frail, contradictory things of earth, in wrath remembering mercy; and this scene sustained and instructed him in all his course, while conducting Israel from the iron rule of Pharaoh to the mount of Pisgah, where He should bequeath " the good Will of Him that dwelt in the bush," (Deut. 33:1616And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. (Deuteronomy 33:16),) as one who had largely experienced it. To Joshua (chap. 5.) again, the Captain, rather than the apostle of the Jewish calling, there appeared, with a drawn sword, the Prince of the host of the Lord. Each had a vision suitable to, and characteristic of, his own peculiar mission.—So, a live coal from the altar, in the circle of the ever holy glory, and the presence of the King, the Lord of Hosts, touching the lips of Isaiah, not only set his heart ready for service, but gave strength to him, and guidance in all the details of it. The nature and principles of that scene were embodied in all his testimony. The holiness and glory of the Lord, the uncleanness of His people, the purging of a remnant, judicial blindness of the mass, and the preservation and return of holy seed, were all comprised within the vision of chap. 6.
In the instance of Paul we have a remarkable sample. His first view of Jesus in the glory taught him the elements of all the great truths of which he was afterward so faithful an expositor. He begins as unconnected with earth; neither seeing, nor eating nor drinking, the great links with earth; and so he ends his course: at first, a bondman by Christ's glory; and, at the last, a bondman for His glory. Peter, as it has been strikingly observed, might truly style himself a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. But Paul was the converse of this. Paul was a witness of the glory of Christ, and a partaker of His sufferings. That heavenly Christ, whose glory shone brighter than noon-day sun on him, and on him only by sovereign grace, (Acts 9:77And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. (Acts 9:7).) called the astonished convert to know and to preach that the Lord of glory was the lowly Jesus of Nazareth, and that the Church was one with Rim in glory. “Why persecutest thou sue? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."
These examples will suffice to establish the necessity (if any should doubt it,) of being truly and accurately instructed in the nature and principles of our calling, if we really desire to walk worthy of it, and that we readily will not, is not only evident practically, but from the marked manner in which the apostle presses it upon us. He knew, the Spirit knew, the many hindrances which arise to our walking worthily of our calling. But why no effort, desire, or response to this touching appeal of our apostle? Do we know, in any energy, the nature of our calling? Have we patiently, like Mary at the feet of Jesus, sought from the Word the momentous meaning of "our vocation?" Has every Christian, by the unction of the Holy Ghost, sought after a faithfully desired acquaintance with a subject so earnestly put before us? Or, are we content with the ignorance of Thomas (John 14.) on a kindred and connected subject: " We know not whither thou goest, and how can we tell the way?” I have said already, that the apostle, in the preceding chapters, gives a full and clear detail of our vocation, and as it must be first known ere practical effects follow from it, it may be well to ponder a little on it.
First, let us enquire whether our vocation, as taught in this epistle, is a new revelation, and demanding a new and peculiar path on earth; or such as all, in God's line of witnesses, from the creation to the cross, had known, enjoyed, and walked in.
When we have it once a settled axiom before our souls, that God has been always, though in very different and even opposite ways, unfolding the various rays of His own glory, at one time His creative wisdom, at another His power and government; here, as a righteous Ruler, who guards and exalts a peculiar nation on earth; and there, as a Father who seeks sinners in electing, though indiscriminate, grace for heaven: when this is simply and clearly seen, it follows as a consequence that the calling and walk of believers are modified, molded, and governed by these respective revelations of God's character.
I believe each and all of God's people, in every age, knew that all their “springs were in Him," knew” that His loving-kindness was better than life itself," and that “in His presence was fullness of joy, and at His right hand pleasures for evermore." They reckoned their blessing to flow from Him, and the power, and in whatsoever place He would be, there would be glory, unspeakable glory to them; and, therefore, it does not interfere with their enjoyment, rest and blessing, whether their hope reached forward to the epiphany of Christ in glory on the earth, (of which we have many proofs,) or to the simply heavenly glory and the full blessedness of the Church as the Bride of Christ. Of this latter we have no intimation, save such passages as “heavenly country," and "a city," in Heb. 11. be supposed to bear that meaning.
The saints, before Christ was rejected from the earth, expected and waited for the accomplishment of the promises in an earthly glory; not human achievement, but an irresistible and universal halo emanating from Immanuel—from God manifest in the flesh. We do not indeed find that God had abandoned man in the flesh as irretrievable, until the Fairest—the Holy One of God—is allowed no place among them, but is cast out and dishonored as an evil doer.
We must not circumscribe our ideas to the narrow limits of human selfishness. Man was destined by God to fill a glorious place on this earth; he was made in the image and glory of God. Not only in Eden, but in the postdiluvian earth, and especially as an elect separated people in Canaan, did the Lord make trial of man. In all these cases man was set to maintain godliness and lordship in the earth. He had not fully proved himself as yet totally unfit for God's high destiny respecting him, for the destiny itself could not be rescinded. But now, every trial being made, and Israel under the power of Rome, “the fourth beast," the Son of God is revealed as one to repair all and to accomplish, through Himself, God's purposes respecting us. "He glorifies God on earth." He proves himself fit and more than fit for man's high destiny, for He was, in truth, “the brightness of God's glory and express image of His person." But, while honored of God, He is rejected and crucified by the very people to whom God had committed His oracles, and to whom He had been sending prophet after prophet to instruct and counsel—by the people whom He had chosen as His own peculiar people, from amongst all the nations of the earth.
The blessed Jesus who had to manhood, and as a man, accomplished all God's purposes and destiny respecting man, being rejected and crucified, rises to the right hand of the Father, not that God's great purpose in setting forth man as His image and glory, in this earth, has been frustrated, but to wait there "till" the period determined of God will arrive. Of that time and season there should be no disclosure. It is reserved in God. Yet the interval was not to be lost, for in this interval is the Church being gathered, not to any earthly standing, for all had failed, but as in union with Christ in heaven, manifesting the characteristics of such an union down here, and this is properly our vocation; the revelation of a secret as to which there was profound secret since the world began. (Rom. 16:25, 2625Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Romans 16:25‑26).) We can aver boldly that it was emphatically Paul's Gospel—" according to my Gospel"—though it was also revealed NOW unto the other holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. A Jew, righteously, ought to have sought to fill the place to which God's favor had called him, if apostasy had not deprived him of it. But of this there could have been no doubt, for the power once delegated to David had passed into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and was now swayed by his Roman successor over Israel; but yet they looked for a Deliverer. Before the understandings of the disciples were opened to understand the Scriptures, they expected that Jesus "would have redeemed Israel," i.e. I suppose by external power. They little expected that any power, not even death, could divert him from this work. And again, after their understandings are opened, we find the apostles asking the Lord, as He was on the eve of taking His place above: “Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" Surely, up to this they had no hope of a purely heavenly glory, apart and unconnected with earth. Nor reasonably could they then, for the Lord had not made the last offer to Israel, of which we so largely read in the first chapters of the Acts.
We find the same thing in the penitent thief. With a Jewish hope, his eye rested (and it was eminent faith) on Christ's glory, in His kingdom, wherein he asks to be remembered. The Lord refuses it not, but He promises a still more immediate blessing, and this Luke alone of the evangelists notices, because, as the companion of Paul, and in all probability a Gentile, he was led of the Spirit to every link, however undefined, with the present hope of saints. Again, we can understand the resistance and difficulty as to receiving the Gentiles, and the consistency of those who argued that they should be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, for into mere Canaan privileges there was no other passport.
To Peter, in a figure, (Acts 10) is shown the calling of Gentiles as well as Jews into the kingdom of heaven, whose keys had been given him. (Compare Matt. 16. Acts
To Paul, in person, (2 Cor. 7) unconscious of everything but the consciousness of unspeakable glory, is revealed the present portion of men in Christ, the Gospel of the glory, the nature and privileges of “our vocation."
Man in every trial has failed. The Holy One, rejected and crucified, is "set down at the right hand of God," "head over all things to the Church," His Spirit now gathering members unto Him, to be shown by and by, as also now in truth His body, the fullness of Him who Oath all in all. And as we realize His headship, and consequently our union with Him, (on the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven dwelling in us,) we understand our vocation. Not an union with Him only, but also union with all the members of His body, however disjointed here or failing to witness the traces of this blessed oneness, which as of one body we must desire, and, when in the power of the Spirit, express.
I think it is not possible to trace any similarity between the common notion of our calling, as held even by evangelical Christians, and that enjoined in this epistle. The one owns, and so far rightly, the doctrine of free grace; but with this great truth is added, without proof or consistency and in much confusion, a hope (it may amount to assurance) of heaven when we die, not a heaven the sphere of our citizenship now, but the final and beatic abode of the redeemed by and by. With death earth is to be totally abandoned, and yet, strange to say, while we are on it, (that is, Christians,) we are to embrace as much as possible of it under even our temporal rule, not only to propagate Christianity in the hearts and affections of men, but to endeavor to induce the powers of the world to adopt it as the wisest governmental policy, or it may be, as the best political economy. Will any thoughtful person say that there is not great confusion and incoherency in this involuted notion? and, coupled as it is with the doctrine of free grace, ( glorious truth! ) many are prevented from investigating the grounds for such ideas. The Reformation, in God's mercy, brought to light, as from the tomb, the doctrine of free grace and justification by faith. That was the first step, a grand stride, from the deep darkness and ignorance in which Christendom was plunged; but, could there be no advance, no progress from it? In Ephesians 2., we are distinctly taught that grace confers more than life from a death in trespasses and sins. The argument of that chapter, in connection with the first, is, " that Christ being risen and sat down on the right hand of God," is "head over all things to the Church, which is His body; " that the power which raised Jesus and set Him there, forthwith " fashions in continuance " the members of that body, quickening us who were dead in trespasses and sins, raising us together, and making us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The means whereby this mighty work was effected we next trace, viz. by the blood and death of Christ, who broke down thus the middle wall of partition, and reconciled Jews and Gentiles unto God in one body by the cross. This new man, this one body, is called in Scripture the Church of God. It is not merely isolated believers here and there, but Jewish and Gentile saint’s are now builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Hence, it is one body here below, whore the Holy Ghost is sent down and abides. Still, its origin, its character, its privileges, and its destiny, are of heaven and not of earth. United to the ascended Lord, the Church's blessings are whore He is, and where she looks to be manifested ere long with Him in glory. Now, this is all of grace, “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace." And yet how few Christians seem interested save but in one portion of “the exceeding riches! " I cannot deny that part of it is enjoyed, for, if it could be denied, Christianity would be unknown; but I am convinced that we all seem to value one portion of the "exceeding riches of His grace, " to the exclusion of the rest, or mainly so. But if it be granted, and it cannot be denied, that being raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, is a component part of the gift of grace, then evidently it is important and essential to know it as one part of it. Our selfishness may be quieted by so much of it as assures us that we are alive from death in trespasses and sins; but, surely, we are not at liberty, nor are we wise to accept one portion of a gift of God and neglect the rest; and we cannot excuse ourselves on the ground that the part we have learned is so full and blessed that we are satisfied therewith, when it ought rather to have been, from its very blessedness, a pledge and a stimulus to us to learn the remainder.
Now, the death, resurrection and exaltation of Christ at God's right hand is the foundation, as the mission from heaven and presence of the Holy Ghost is the efficacious agent, of the Church; and we are even now one with Him whose glory is accomplished on high, and await a common appearing together. Does ordinary doctrine admit such a heavenly standing, even while we are here? I may be answered that Christians generally believe that the spirits of saints will be raised to heaven after death and the dissolution of the body. But this, surely, is not what is taught in the passage before us; for if it were, their quickening from death in trespasses and sins would not occur till then also, which is a manifest fallacy. Hence, if the one is true, and declared and enjoyed, so ought the other, and, therefore, the notion that we only belong to heaven when we die is not a correct idea of “our vocation."
It was, too, plainly recorded that heaven was the portion of believers to be utterly repudiated; but, as ever with Satan, when he cannot destroy "the meal," the food of souls, he will leaven it. And accordingly our heavenly standing is not denied but postponed till we quit this earthly scene; and this device has succeeded in engaging the mind of Christians with earthly things, and led them to hope for a repetition of Jewish blessings, as the people of God set on earth. But Eph.2:5, 6, is plainly contrary to all this. It declares that believers now “are raised up together and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." There is no idea whatever (but the reverse) that heaven is postponed to any particular period, and nothing whatever as to an earthly expectancy, seeing we are distinctly instructed in the foregoing chapter, that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, entirely apart and dissociated from earth, even in that place to which we are now called by grace. True, we are actually on earth, but not with the power and interests of earthly blessing. We are here alive from death in trespasses and in sins, and ought to be practically exhibiting here conformity to the risen Jesus, who is our head, strangers to all earthly maxims, and manifesting ourselves as the body of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost, who witnesses of Him; and this is our vocation, however little we have learned it, or, alas! are disposed, because of our carnality, to learn it. “There is one body and one Spirit."
Again, I must repeat, that it is not only important for us to know the nature and principles of our vocation, because of our own blessing; but, furthermore, unless we walk worthy of it, we shall not be able rightly or adequately to express that testimony to which God has called us, even that practical use to which the apostle so earnestly applies it; and how essential it is for this purpose we best arrive at by considering the nature and extent of the demand on us.
As walking worthy of our vocation, the first stage in this interesting course, we are exhorted to cultivate certain dispositions and habits, in order to produce a grand result, even the endeavor to keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." No self-denial is to be refused which may tend to the accomplishment of this great object. "With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." A right eye or a right hand is not to be spared, if any barrier to the jealous observance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This is the wonderful testimony to which Christians are now called; and if it is little displayed and found difficult to be accomplished, it only increases the necessity of our acquiring proper instruction to enact it. It is one great point to know what ought to be our object here. There is a sevenfold oneness with which every Christian has to do: " One body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all; " (verses 4-6;) and, therefore, unity amongst themselves should be the manifest fruit of it., and would surely be testified, if simply, and practically, and exclusively enjoyed. I say exclusively, for it is evident that no division can arise if no other element but Christ engaged our hearts, for there is simple unity in each of the parts of that whole with which alone we have to do. Whence then arises division and the little manifestation of this duty? Firstly, I believe it is not felt to be paramount and all-important. Our real position around Christ and in Christ is not individually maintained and valued, and hence no ability or interest to manifest the effects of it corporately. Popery has retained the shell of this truth when it requires all its votaries to adopt the same language in every nation, and to proclaim themselves “the one holy catholic church." But, alas! how little have believers declared they had the kernel of this assumed unity and catholicity. Christians may be careful about their own personal walk, either to avoid judgment and promote their own happiness, or, still better, to please God; but I fear with very few is it of the deepest interest and labor " to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; " and, consequently, we know the sad effects of this indifference. No believer now can individualize himself, for all are baptized by one Spirit into (εἰς)one body. This was not known of old. True, an open transgression, by any member of the nation, as in the ease of Achan, and such like, demanded temporal judgment and expurgation; but who will say that the sin of any one individual affected all the rest spiritually? In former times, they were baptized in the cloud and the sea unto Moses; now, we are baptized by one Spirit into one body. The Spirit has something more to do with me than merely to lead me into joys of salvation. He has an ulterior object, adopting me into that wonderful system, the body of Christ, and making me feel my interest and sympathy in it. "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." How so? Surely, there could never be any natural intercourse or acquaintance maintained with all; and if not, it must be spiritual, flowing from a very real union, if unseen, for we are one Spirit with the Lord, and members of one another. And there is mutual blessing, even " that which every joint supplieth," as such are practically led by the Spirit; otherwise, one is not walking according to the mind of Him by whom we are baptized into one body. This is the work of the Holy Ghost, present in the Church on earth—His ultimate object, for the body is the fullness of Him who filleth all in all; and we cannot walk in fellowship with Him unless we are agreed; and we cannot agree with Him unless we follow the same objects and interests with Him; and if we are not in fellowship, it is evident we cannot enjoy the strength, guidance and comfort which are derivable from Him. On the other hand, if we are, we participate in all the blessings which His presence affords.
It is important to ascertain why we have not more spiritual power. It is simply because we prescribe a limited selfish course for His operation, and not the large comprehensive purpose into which He would lead us. We cannot have one without the other, for He is one; and if we are deficient in one, we must be in the other. No believer, really laboring to keep, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, but must know the power and comfort of the Spirit. It is vain to suppose that I can enjoy the power and comfort of the Spirit, and yet not aim to walk in sympathy with His desires. The object of the Holy Ghost is to edify the body of Christ-to build for the absent Jesus a glorious Eve, to be presented to Him by and bye, but now curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth; and this, assuredly, must be at least my aim and desire if I am in unison with Him, and, if not, barrenness must enter into my soul; "my right eye shall be utterly darkened; " my " salt will lose its savor." There is no such thing now as simply singular blessing. No one, however exalted, is the body, and no Christian, however weak, but is of it. You are elevated and advanced in proportion to your use to Christ's body: you are weak, as you are a mere drain on it. I can never view myself apart from it, unless I return to nature, and truly, as I widen my separation from the body, do I re-establish myself in nature.
The Jew expressed union naturally, we must spiritually. The temple in Jerusalem was the center of the one; Christ in heaven is the center of the other. It does not lessen our responsibility, because there is failure, and little expression of the Spirit's work; for if our responsibility can be lessened, then the Spirit may slacken in His purpose and object, which could not be true. Believers have been unwilling to submit to the sacrifices which the endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace inevitably entails. And if they have resigned the object and desire of the Spirit of God, they have accordingly forfeited the strength, grace, and cheer of Him in their own souls; and there is no way to obtain these blessings but by being renewed with purpose of heart, to be led by Him, and to fulfill all His counsel. Weakness, failure, and disunion are no grounds for our indolence or indifference to make the endeavors. I believe if a Christian was cast alone on a desert island, that the energy of the Spirit in him would lead him to seek the conversion of the natives, not only for the joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, but also that in communion with two or three, he might glorify Christ and fulfill the will of the Spirit, and it would assuredly increase his own strength and gladness. The Jew did not maintain the natural unity. The Church has not endeavored to maintain spiritual unity, But what was the strength and testimony of the faithful Jew, even in Babylon? Why "he prayed three times a day with his face toward Jerusalem." But where was Jerusalem? A heap of ruins! save in the mind of faithful Daniel, who could not forget Jerusalem, " the city of the great king." And, in like manner, when the Jews returned from Babylon, Haggai admonishes them to go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the house of the Lord," for the Lord would take " pleasure in it," though that very temple was afterwards to be so defiled by Antiochus. A few walking in faithfulness could never forget or swerve from the object of God; whether, as with Daniel, there was no appearance of the expression of it, or as with the rebuilders a temple with another failure. And so with, us neither non-appearance of the object of God now is to dissuade us from endeavoring after it, nor a fear of failure to discourage us from making the attempt. Similar is the instruction of Paul to Timothy, in the second epistle, which we may well characterize as the last words of Paul. If the great house (Christendom) has in it vessels to dishonor, Timothy's course is, while purging himself from those, to seek still an expression of unity with them "that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2 Tim. 2:20-2220But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. 22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:20‑22).) None others could express the unity of the Spirit. This is important as the alone ground for discipline and separation from professionists; but no failure or magicians, ("Jannes and Jambres,") or similarity (chap. 3.) to godliness, should lessen his exertions, but rather promote them. Nay, his only remedy for such a state of things was CONTINUANCE, (verse 14,) as we find Moses aforetime, when encountering the same opposition before Pharaoh. In fact, as a faithful one, he was to do more because others did less. And again we have the same truth enforced in Judo's epistle, which contemplates Christians in a very tried state, and subject to great disorder. Yet a course is plainly marked out for “the beloved." But ye, beloved, (verse 20,) building up yourselves in your most holy faith, (simple dependence on Christ, not yielding to growing laxity and self-will,) praying in the Holy Ghost, expressing unity in the Spirit as touching all your need and circumstances, and forthwith strengthened and blessed, not to omit searching after members, who, from one cause or another, are deprived of their fuller blessing. So that the expression or manifestation of the unity of the Spirit was never to be lost sight of, but was ever to be the aim and object of the faithful in the darkest time. Hence, in the Lord's Supper, as well as in our mere salutations, there was to be an evidence of it. Thus was manifested, by the familiarity of the expression of affection, the great unity of Christians. And this is simply what the Church of God on earth was called to manifest. The Lord stir us up, and fill us with zeal for His house which lieth waste! But, alas! interest for our own things is mainly the cause of our neglecting the great end and object of the Spirit, which is a manifested counterpart on earth of that unity which is "infallibly," as another has said, maintained above, and this naturally follows from not understanding our vocation. For if conscious of our unity, there so unbroken and blessed, and if filled with the power and interest of it, we could not but endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Hence, in conclusion, is seen that if I do not understand the nature and principles of my vocation, my endeavors to keep the unity will only be right intentions wrongly attempted, and therefore ineffectual; and, on the other hand, I cannot have entered into the sweetness and power of my vocation. Thus, I must labor for a manifestation of that fellowship one with another, of which in “light " I am partaker.”O Lord, revive thy work! "
J. B. S.